ARLINGTON, TEXAS — The purpose of the Eagles’ season, as it is every season, is to produce a championship. Even with a 24-22 victory over the Dallas Cowboys Sunday, that process is ongoing.

But within that season, within every day of that season, within every game and possession and play of that season, there was a game within a game. And that game is over. Complete. Filed and recorded. That game — to audition Nick Foles, and to determine whether he could make for a sturdy franchise foundation — was a success, with no asterisks, no conditions, no doubts.

That game was won, no matter what the Eagles achieve in the postseason.

That was the story of the effective play-in game Sunday; at least, it was the most compelling of many. It was whether Foles was ready for his first mega-test of his career. He had been splendid all season, generating record quarterback-ratings, collecting a spray of in-season awards. But, well … how about on national TV, 200 feet below Jerry Jones’ box, against an eternal Eagles rival, with you-lose-you’re-out stakes? How about then? Would he be as alert, as accurate, as capable has he’d been since taking Mike Vick’s job? Or would he settle for playing air guitar during warmups and then twanging out sour notes for three-plus hours?

Advertisement

By halftime there was diminishing doubt. In building a 17-10 lead after 30 minutes, Foles was 12-for-16 with two touchdown passes, his customary zero interceptions and a thick layer of veteran readiness.

Foles was his best when, with 1:53 left in the half and the momentum up for bids, Mychal Kendricks intercepted Kyle Orton, plopping the Birds at the Dallas 49. On first down, Foles hit Brent Celek with a 35-yard pass. On second, he hit him in the end zone from 14 yards.

That 18-second splice of a division-championship season made it official: The next Eagles’ quarterback controversy could be expected sometime around 2019.

Foles, who survived the re-signing of Vick, the drafting of Matt Barkley, the acquisition of Chip Kelly’s former Oregon quarterback, a training-camp talent show and an early-season designation as the No. 2 quarterback could provide what the Eagles needed.

He could fashion a victory when there was no alternative.

“I think you judge a quarterback based on whether he can lead to you victories or not,” offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said last week. “You want a guy that is very efficient, but you want a guy also that does the things necessary to help you win. That’s partly why I think Nick’s done a good job for us.”

Foles has proven able to win games, but for that he had help from an improved defense, from the record-setting running of LeSean McCoy, from a consistent offensive line, from a coach unafraid to play scratch-off-lottery football. And as he has, giving the Eagles’ offense stature even when it is not humming at its best.

Sunday, the Cowboys were at the Birds’ 40, facing fourth-and-one, down a point in the fourth quarter. Yet rather than punting, they tried — and failed — to record the first down. They were terrified in that spot, at that moment, to return the ball to Foles. Their hunch was proven correct when Foles responded with an 11-play, 60-yard drive to a Bryce Brown touchdown with 6:09 to play.

Somewhere around midseason — about when his gear was sent to Canton for museum display, just as a reference point — the Eagles knew Foles was their quarterback for 2013. But by the way he managed a game and a situation Sunday, completing 17 of 26 passes for 263 yards, they had to know that they had their quarterback of the future too.

At some point, the standard rules will apply, the ones that ultimately exposed Donovan McNabb, who had more than a few of his impressive regular-season successes, too. Ultimately, Foles will have to win in playoff games, reach a Super Bowl and manage the clock and his nerves once there.

But that’s what Foles has won the opportunity to try, not just with a satisfying season, but with a telling late-December moment in Texas.

His audition is over. He passed.

Jack McCaffery is a columnst for 21st Century Media. He can be reached at jmccaffery@21st-centurymedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JackMcCaffery.